


Events of Massacre (Act 1)

by Speckielishious



Series: Events of Massacre (EoM) [1]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Affection, Attempted Murder, Awkwardness, Big Men vs. Small Woman, Blood and Violence, Curiosity, Fights, Gen, Implied Feelings, Insults, Intrigue, Invasion of Privacy, Irony, Misunderstandings, Multi, Nudity, Other, POV Multiple, Torture, implied PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-05-23
Packaged: 2020-01-12 11:26:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18445601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Speckielishious/pseuds/Speckielishious
Summary: Sylvia is an Assassin hailing from a rich and powerful family in Italy. However, a shady organization only referred to as the ‘Agency’ uproots her life scattering her family and getting the Mercenaries hired as her bodyguards. Can Sylvia and the Mercenaries learn to get along or will they kill each other in the process?





	1. Meet The 'Client'

**Author's Note:**

> Events of Massacre (or EoM) takes place in 1975 2ish years after the Mann Co. No More Comics regardless of how it might end. The story will have a lot of unofficial characters and locations that follow the story in some way.
> 
> Let me know what you think and how i can improve.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Mercenaries are brought to Rockside a compound hidden in the unmapped parts of the Rocky Mountains near Utah but when they forget the most important part of their mission the client! Then things get out of hand as a pretty little intruder hunts the team. Did the Mercs get more than they bargained for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the latest draft which is fully extended with unique additions not seen from my other postings on DeviantArt and Fanfiction.net which includes:  
> \- Polished version of the original Meet The Client draft  
> \- Polished version of the extended cut - Soldier Vs. Sylvia scene added into the chapter (Which was made after the first 'Meet The Client' drafts were finished and posted on DA and Fanfic)  
> \- Extra and Reworked dialog and writing

**Location: Florence, Italy**

A young Italian assassin comes home after narrowly escaping a job gone wrong. She puts her gear on a chair and gets out a bottle of Pascalli Wine _(an Italian wine of choice)_ and pours herself a glass and thinks out loud to herself.

"It's never this quiet not even at this time of night, even the sounds from my Cousin's workshop is silent… Speaking of something missing where is my Father and Uncle? They all can't be visiting my Aunts at this hour at same time can they?"

She finishes the wine and goes to her bedroom to find bags and suitcases packed next to her bed and on her pillow was a note in her father's handwriting and it reads: _**Arrangements have been made. Follow all instructions to the letter. And always remember: Every meeting we have could be our last!**_

She crushes the note in her hand then finds a list of what to do and an audio tape in an envelope.

 

…

 

**2 Days ago…**

Miss Pauling is on the phone about a job for the Mercs while a nicely dressed man is holding a suitcase full of money and a folio filled with paperwork

Ms. Pauling: "… And you're willing to pay THIS MUCH for just a deposit on the Mercenaries!?"

Male Voice: "… Call it… _"insurance"_ …"

Miss Pauling: "… for them to be bodyguards?"

Male Voice: "These matters mean life and death Signora Pauling, my daughter means to world to me and if you say these men are the best at what they do then are you not assuring me that they're service is worth everything that I am offering?"

Miss Pauling: "Oh no i don't mean to insult your offer!… it's just that some of these Mercenaries can be hard to work with and the last job that was close to the type of work your demanding was all-out war. It's not that I don't think the job can't be done far from it in fact… it's just that they don't work well with taking orders from kids…."

Male Voice: "ooooh…. You misunderstand, my daughter isn't a child, the young lady in the picture is in her 20's, but i can understand that a mere facial portrait might give that impression , her face just looks a few years younger than what she really is, we Italians know how to age well… oh and I uh'a should mention that she is also a professionally trained killer…"

Miss Pauling: "… oh then she should fit right in!"

Male Voice: "eh… as long as they make a good impression they should be fine…"

 

**The Mercs make their way to the compound in an unmapped part of the Rocky Mountains**

 

Scout: "Woah! this place is built like a mansion! I mean check these sweet digs!"

Spy: "Scout don't touch anything that looks like it's worth more than you, the last thing we need is for you vandalize something priceless."

Scout: "Eh, don't worry 'bout it I'll be careful" he says as he almost knocks down a porcelain bust

Sniper: "This place is actually well hidden and pretty far out of the way, the blokes that own this place certainly go the extra mile to keep it off the maps."

Engineer: "And it has it's own energy generators so electricity isn't a problem. I'm wondering if they have themselves a workshop that i could make use of?"

Medic: "Ja, these are more than adequate accommodations but what are medical facilities like and where can I find them?"

Heavy: "This place is like maze."

Demoman: "ay, we just walked r'selves int'a nice place but where ay can get me' self some 'ard liquor round yere."

Soldier: "Who cares how fancy and expensive this place is the defenses are useless! No barbed wire, no landmines, not even a pit with man-eating animals how do they expect to keep this place from falling into enemy hands!"

Pyro: "mrrrerm!" _(As Pyro points to a floor layout map on the wall)_

Scout: "hey, way to go there Pyro, you found something useful."

Engie: "Looks like we're in the south corridors if we make our way to that there central part the building we can branch off into the areas we need to get ourselves to."

When they made it to the central building. There was living room setup on the middle left side with a well stocked kitchen on the right and next to the doorways were supply closets.

Pyro immediately starts the fireplace and expresses great joy in lighting a fire in it. Heavy looks in the fridge to see many fresh foods and ingredients and starts making himself some sandwiches. Scout sits on the couch and turns on the TV only to find nothing but Italian Dramas and International News channels but managed to find and settle on a 24 Hour Foreign Movie channel.

Demo finds the liquor cabinet and picked out the only bottle of Scrumpy he could find and sits on a chair to drink. Engineer makes note of where the Workshop is on the layout map and makes his way there, Medic does the same for the Med Bay. Soldier continues to wander the halls claiming he's "on patrol" when he is actually just lost _(Because he stubbornly refuses to look at the wall maps saying that he doesn't need to)_. Spy makes his way to the surveillance room and turns on the base's security cameras. Sniper found his way to the highest central balcony and sets up a Sniper Nest.

 

...

 

**2 hours later the Mercs get a call from Miss Pauling…**

 

Pauling: "Hey guys Pauling here. How are you all liking the base?"

Scout: "Hey, Miss Pauling you should come here and check this place out, it's really fancy!"

Pauling: "Sorry Scout but I've still got work to do, like getting your new equipment shipped and keeping tabs with our new employer, speaking of which has anyone went off to go pick up the Client from the airport yet?"

They all look at each other awkwardly realizing they all forgot only for Soldier to blurt out obliviously "We forgot the Client!"

Pauling: "WHAT!? oh no, this not good if you guys don't pick up the Client we're all going to be in so much trouble!"

Spy: How much trouble are we talking about Miss Pauling?

Pauling: "Try thinking of a large family of angry Italian Assassins and every other hitman on earth being hired to hunt for our heads, that is if this job fails."

Demo chokes on a gulp of schnapps before doing a spit-take.

Sniper: "What the bloody hell are you thinking giving us a job that involve blokes like this Miss Pauling? Are you trying to get us hung on a wall?"

Pauling: "No, of course not! But the employer said that he didn't have many 'reliable' options to choose from and was really adamant about hiring 'The 9 Warriors of The Great Mann Co. Robot Wars'. He even offered 11 billion dollars as advance payment!"

Heavy starts choking on his sandwich when he heard how much the employer was paying then tries to pummel his chest to get it unstuck.

Engie: "Now fellas maybe it's not too late to go to the airport and pick our client up without a hitch and we can clear things up before supper. So Pyro would you mind coming along and see if we can fix this mess?"

 

Pyro agreed and they went off. Along the 2 hour drive there was no traffic until they noticed some crazy person driving a motorcycle at a dangerously high speed without a helmet coming in their direction Engie managed to get a good glance at the person on it. He saw a girl with pale blonde hair tied in a high ponytail held with white ribbon, she's wearing a green scarf and a little red dress. He saw the look on her face, it looked as though she was ready to give some poor fool hell and she was none too happy about it. The moment passed and another hour later him and Pyro were halfway to the airport arrival pickup and noticed the airport was in chaos…

 

**Meanwhile 1 1/2 hours later…**

 

The Client managed to make it to the compound but without her gear and luggage she could only really rely on unarmed combat, the contents of her purse and the combat knife strapped to her thigh if things continue to go wrong like they have been the last few days. From nearly getting killed on a phony job to getting attacked and having to flee from the airport, she can't help but be on edge and she knows this will only continue as long as her enemies pursue her. She enters the driveway only to see a red dot move along the motorcycle realizing what it was she quickly jumped off using some acrobatics as shots were fired and ran for the nearest door and gets inside.

" _Accidenti!(Damn it!)_ they made it here before me!… Well if they want'a piece of me they will gett'a bigger bargain then what they ask for!" She said angrily.

Sniper runs down from his nest and into the living area as fast as he can

Sniper: "Look alive bludgers, we got ourselves a trespasser!"

Scout: "Alright! Day 1 and we're already getting some action round here!"

Heavy: "Heavy will get gun…"

Demo: _(wakes up from his booze nap)_ "ay-wha! we got trouble?!"

Scout: "So uh, what does this intruder look like?"

Sniper: "A short, pale blonde sheila wearing a little red dress, probably some rotten spy in disguise!"

Spy is watching this from the surveillance room while checking the cameras for their little "guest" only to find nothing on all screens. He then hears footsteps coming from somewhere and he prepares to fight.

"Ciao, trespasser…" she says in a polite manner

As Spy quickly turned around to face the opponent and stab them, however he miscalculated her height, stabbing above her shoulder. She grabbed him by the wrists squeezing them hard till he dropped his knife, then she knee'd him in the groin and allowed him to drop to the ground only to kick him in the ribs until he's flat on his back. The little woman pins him down with one knee on his chest and grabs him by the tie. Staring him down with a cold look in her purple eyes.

Spy: "Horrid shrew! Kicking a man while he's down!"

"When I am through with you Agency scum, you will all wish for death…" she says in very bitter tone.

Spy: "…"Agency"?…"

But before Spy could get another word in the young woman bashed his head to the floor knocking him unconscious… she then slaps his face to make sure he wasn't faking it and picks through his pockets for something she could use and picks out his Dead Ringer.

"Hmm, Dead Ringer eh… Would have come in handy had I intended kill you immediately. But i will put this to good use."

Looking at the screens for another priority target she clamps shut the Invisowatch stuffing it into her cleavage, she drags Spy off into another room where she strips him of his weapons and pulls out his false teeth and cyanide cap.

 

…

 

Medic:" Scheisse in intruder!? I haven't even gotten the Med Bay up and running yet and we already have a problem… Guess i will have to make do." He scoffs in frustration.

While Medic finished talking to Scout through a small voice intercom he hears a small noise like the cloak of an activated Invisowatch. He felt that there was a presence other than his own in the quiet of the Med Bay and he noticed that a syringe of tranquilizer was missing from the counter. He went closer to investigate what happened to the missing item as he felt a sudden shift in atmosphere.

Medic: _"Someone **is** in here, but where?"_ He thought to himself.

Medic grabs a Bone Saw from the tool tray as he approached closer to the counter with a grim expression on his face. As he stood in front of the counter space his face turns to his typical smug, evil grin as he hears shuffling.

Medic: "I know you're in here intruder, you can't hide forever, I will find you and I will be the one performing your autopsy! He says letting out a short laugh.

He quickly turns around only to jab his bone saw into a hanging skeleton prop on wheels with a Dead Ringer watch attached to it, the surgical tool is now jammed into the prop and won't come out. Then out of nowhere Medic felt something grab him by the ankles tripping him, his glasses fall off as he hits his face on the floor. Before he could have the chance to get up he felt someone pounce onto his back, a hand pinned his head to the floor as a needle is sticked into his skin injecting tranquilizer into his neck. The weight lifted off his back and she stood before him. As he slowly feels conciseness fade he saw her face, a look of disgust and malice.

Medic: za Fräulein?… but how did you…?

"Silence, _mostro! (monster!)_ Your presence here sickens me!" she hissed. Then her tone changed to sweet but cold whisper "Now sleep like a good little _bambino (child)_ and we shall "chat" later." she said to him as everything fades.

She lifts up his arm and drops it, his arm falls limply back the floor. She takes off his rubber gloves and lab coat, her spine shudders in discomfort as she looks at the white coat tossing it on the floor. She looked down at the unconscious German and casually shrugs.

" Good, I can at least tolerate looking you, now that you aren't draped in that wretched white coat." She mutters quietly to herself as she drags him off by the legs.

 

...

 

When Heavy was wondering where the doctor was so he decided to check to see if all was alright for himself when he went into the Med Bay Heavy saw the doctor's coat, glasses, and rubber gloves on the floor near some cracked tile, a used needle, a skeleton prop with a bone saw stuck inside the ribcage and a splat of blood. He also saw the open cabinet and in it he saw a red leather purse. Heavy picked it up and it smelled of ladies perfume. Inside the purse was a passport, a folio, $30,000 in cash, a portable hair and makeup kit, a small bottle of perfume, a portable sewing kit, an empty metal flask, a small bag of hard sugar candies , a 5 pound brick, and a tiny silver flute on a silver neck chain with the name _"Sylvia"_ engraved on it. Heavy then looked at the passport and saw a picture of a girl with pale skin, purple eyes and her hair was a creamy pale blonde. Then he checks the folio.

 

...

 

About 20 minutes after warning Medic about the problem Scout went looking for the intruder expecting an enemy Spy to pop up and stab him out of nowhere. Then he saw something from the corner of his eye turned around and blindly shot into the empty hallway.As he continues down the halls he sees a girl. Getting good look at her Scout noticed she was shorter than everyone on the team, wearing a little red dress with white and yellow accents with a rounded skirt that curls just above her knees. The top of the dress has short sleeves that covers the top of her shoulders with a narrow v neck opening that exposes a little bit of her neckline and some minor cleavage. Her arms are covered in long white gloves that go up past her elbows.  Around her neck is an emerald green scarf with a gold trim. She has long pale blonde hair held up in a high ponytail tied together with a white ribbon tied into a neat bow. And on her feet are red go-go boots and thin white nylons that go up her thighs. For Scout the moment felt almost as if it were in slow motion as she turns to face him, Scout sees the girl's pale skin, rosy cheeks, peachy pink lips and purple eyes with long eyelashes all in an expression of surprise and confusion. Scout thinking he's being suave walks up to her and starts flirting.

Scout: "Hey there cutie, uh what brings you to this place out here in the middle of nowhere? You lost? Oh wait maybe you came here for the gun show" he says flexing his scrawny arms

Seeing this scrawny boy walk up and start flexing his arms in front of her she thinks to herself _" Is this idiota for real? He seriously thinks his attempt at flirting is working?… Wait… Ugh, I might as well use this to my advantage, time to play this fool like a flute"_ She grabs his arm, leans in close to his shoulder, forces herself to giggle cutely and bat her eyelashes.

"Oh, signore I am'a glad to see you! I have had such a horrible day, maybe you can make it a little less horrible. She says trying too hard to be seductive in her Italian accent. She secretly cringes at her own bad acting  _(but is surprised that it actually worked.)_ But the thought of having to kiss him to keep up the charade made her want a gun so she could shoot him, then literally shoot herself in the foot. 

Scout seeing this pretty girl fling herself on him and talking in a fancy accent he thinks he's hit the jackpot. He starts running his mouth as she guilds him in the direction she wants him to go. They walk through the halls while he continues to talk about himself without stopping that he didn't notice that she took his bat then they stopped in front of a door, she pulled key card from a chain in her boot and unlocks the door.

Scout: "Hey lady! Where did ya get that key? What's in this room? When did you take my bat?…. uh why do ya look so pissed?… oh crap…"

"MI DIO! DO YOU EVER SHUT UP?" she screams as she kicks Scout in the shins then hits him over the back with his own bat knocking him to the floor. Dragging Scout by one ankle she gets him into the room, passing a locker she grabs some rope and handcuffs and starts restraining him cuffing his hands. She ties his ankles together then loops the rope around a low hanging rafter and strings him up like a piñata.

Even though he's upside down Scout was able to see the room and in the middle of the room he saw Spy and Medic propped onto their knees and their right hands cuffed to their left feet and their left hands cuffed to their right feet he also noticed that they had black "hoods" put over their faces preventing them from seeing where they are.

Scout: "Medic! Spy! Help! What's going on! Do something!"

"Save you're breath fool, they're unconscious for the time being. Although i have taken some 'precautions' just in case, don't want any spoilsports eh?"

Scout: "Ya know for a really cute girl you're a real bitch!"

" Ha! That's not the first time I've heard someone say that to me before I interrogate them. So tell me 'mouthy one' how many more of you thugs should I expect to come after my head?" she says as she winds up a swing with the bat.

Scout: "Not the face!" he begs as he squirms in his binds.

She hits Scout in the shoulder hearing the loud snap of his bone breaking and the joint dislocating. His screams of pain can be heard throughout the base.

"Screaming and squirming makes torture less of a tedious task, sometimes it's even fun. However i do not tolerate begging, for it only proves how pathetic you really are, and it will get you nothing but my fury you pitiful worm! Now, answer the question!" she yells smacking Scout with the bat a few more times knocking his baseball out of his pocket.

Scout: " Alright, I'll tell you just stop hitting me with my bat!" he whines giving out a sob.

"Well, out with it, i don't have all day!"

Scout: "There's nine of us mercs, each of us does something different so there's no way you can take'em all on! I mean look at ya? Your' a puny little squirt and some of these other guys are huge! Some even beat me up on a regular basis... Wait um that er came out wrong... I meant to say..."

" _Graze per il testa a testa  Idiota (Thanks for the heads up moron)_ , but I can handle six more trespassers. As for you and the other two I shall deal with you later, once I capture these other trespassers that is." She says annoyed as she gags Scout using his baseball.

 "There that should shut you up" she mutters as she leaves the room tossing the bat into a corner.

 

...

 

Demoman hears Scout screaming somewhere in the building but is unable to find out where after the screaming stopped. Knowing that he might be next Demoman makes his way back to the central part of the base hoping to set up some sticky traps at the hall entrances. What he doesn't know is that the person he's trying to keep out already beat him to central building and was hiding waiting for anyone to ambush.

From her hiding place up in a nook in the high wall she see's this black, one-eyed drunk man run into the room placing bombs in hallway entrance. After he set up his trap he goes to the liquor cabinet and grabs the tequila then goes back to middle of the room and watches his traps. From the little nook she retreats into a vent and as quietly as possible crawls on her belly to an optimal spot, but the vent gave way dropping her down and on top of Demoman. He falls to the floor dropping his bomb detonator the two of them stare at each other blinking in confusion. For a moment he stares into her purple eye- then turns his head to look into her other purple eye. 

Demo: ay, ye don't see peepers like those on many a wee lass... Are ye some kind'a faery?" he says in a drunken garble.

Eyelander: _"If she were a fairy i would know it, but she isn't anything supernatural, your just half blind and drunk."_  The ghost sword whispered into Demoman's mind.

Demo: "Shut yer trap, ye haunted overgrown booter knife." he whispered back.

She doesn't say anything to him as she waves and twiddles her fingers in his face and with nothing more than her index finger pokes him hard in his good eye. The sudden pain that was inflicted made Demoman fling her off of him sending her the direction of his bomb detonator allowing her to grab and run off with it. When his good eye was able to refocus he see's her running into the hallway with his detonator so he grabs the Eyelander ready to give chase. He charges forth only to realize by the smug yet serious look on her face that she was waiting for him. She presses the button and sets off the bombs not too far behind him sending him flying from the explosion splash. Landing on his stomach he tries trudge forward but realized that his right leg had broke upon landing making it harder to get up. Then she jumps up and stomps on his back flattening him on the floor. And with one foot she crushes his hand that still had a grip on Eyelander making him drop it and she kicks Eyelander out of his reach.

"You're certainly not the first hallucinating drunk person I've meet and I'm certain you won't be the last either." She says looking down at Demoman with a serious look on her face.

Demo: "What's a wee lass like ye doing here anyway, and how are ye' kicking our arses?" he said with a drunken slur.

"That's none of your business trespasser!" 

Demo: "Trespasser, me? Yer the intruder here!"

She stands on top of him twisting and digging the heels of her boots into his shoulders, then she kicks him really hard in the head until he lost consciousness. She then brings him to the interrogation room.

 

...

 

Soldier heard the screams and explosions going on within the last hour. Trying not to let the possibility of his teammates being dead faze him he marches around the halls until he meets with Heavy whose holding woman's purse.

Soldier: "What are you doing carrying around a purse commie! This isn't the time for sowing and makeovers we got ourselves an intruder most likely an enemy spy running around as some prissy princess that's managed take out half of our team!"

Heavy: "Heavy does not own purse, it belongs to woman who is team's client. She only attacks team because we make her think we are enemies. If we…"

Soldier: "Negatory! Our client is still at the airport being picked up by Engineer and Pyro and will be back in a few hours. We're dealing with an enemy Spy that might be dressed up as our client and took her purse to trick us."

Heavy: "Heavy will call Engineer. Soldier find client but don't attack or she will fight back."

Soldier: "Affirmative! I will find this 'Client' and find out if this person is a spy!" he says as he quickly marches away from Heavy.

Heavy: "Why Heavy's sister Zhanna marry stupid man like Soldier Heavy will never know." He says face palming.

Heavy then finds a phone and calls Engineer…

Engie: "Y'ello? who is this and why are you calling?"

Heavy: "Heavy is the one calling, Engineer is the Client with you?"

Engie: Nope, I'm afraid she's not at the airport anymore. From what Pyro and I were able to find out is that she got attacked, killed her attackers, stole a motorcycle and flew the coup leaving her luggage behind. We have her things and are heading back now. The Client probably made it to the base on her own at this point. Is she there with you fellas?"

As he said that they heard a rocket explosions deep in the background.

Heavy: "Client is here but thinks we are enemy"

Engie: " WHAT?! What did morons do to piss 'er off so badly?"

Heavy: "Heavy doesn't know full story, but i will find out soon"

Engie: "Try reasoning with her big guy maybe if you try a nonviolent approach maybe she won't have any reason to attack back."

Heavy: "Heavy will not hurt her."

Engie: "Let's hope she doesn't die or kill everyone before we get back, be seeing you one way or another i suppose." he says and hangs up.

As Heavy walks off in hopes it's not too late to make things right. And just like that the explosions stopped and an eerie silence washes over once again.

 

...

 

Soldier quickly marches away from Heavy in search of this illusive Spy problem. Looking for a Spy disguised as a girl should be easy. After a few minutes Soldier then hears something from around a corner. There he sees the girl. A small girl in a fancy red dress with white gloves and a green scarf. If that isn’t how a Spy would dress as a girl then there was no doubt in his mind that this was in fact a Spy.

“Ugh, getting that drunk cyclops into the interrogation room was harder than I thought. This is getting tiresome…” she mutters

Just then Soldier pops out from around the corner.

Soldier: Sorry your majesty! But this is the part where I blow you’re puffy skirt all the way back to France!

“France? Why France? I’m not even French you uncultured _maiale (pig)_ I’m from Italy!”

Soldier: “I don’t care where you’re from or what useless language you speak, I’m going blast your unauthorized foreigner ass out of America!” He yelled shooting three rockets in her direction.

She runs at him using the blasts to increase her momentum, the skirt of her dress getting singed and her nylons disintegrate in the process. She jumps up slapping off his helmet and gets in a quick kick to his gut. Before she could escape Soldier grabs her by the shoulder tackling and pins her to the wall. He looks her dead in the eye as he punches her in the stomach. She dry heaves winded by the blow but tries to shake it off. She flails to no avail and instead grabbing for her knife with her free hand. She doesn’t remove her gaze from his.

Soldier: "You don’t fight like one of those filthy French cowards i’ll give you that much but can you take a hit like a man!” He yells smacking her across the face.

She took the hit without flinching, her expression changes to one of pure remorseless fury as she takes her knife and drives it into his right arm. She continually stabs and slashes his arm with her large combat knife even as he continues to punch her. Eventually he couldn’t take pain from the stabbing and slashing anymore so he tossed her across the hallway. She hit the floor sliding and tumbling. When she got up she backed off from him with her knife in hand flicking blood off the blade.

“I did **not** come all this way to die or to be slapped and tossed around by an ape like you!”

Soldier: “Bring it on powderpuff!” he says shooting more rockets.

She ran at Soldier again, this time throwing her blade into his right shoulder crippling his arm completely making him drop his rocket launcher. She ran in skips and strides for a running start then jumps high enough to knee him in the chin, quickly extending her leg kicking him in the sternum then shifts her weight flip kicking Soldier sending him onto his back. She backs off waiting to see if he gets up and he does. He runs at her in a blind rage. She takes off her scarf ducking down before he could grab her again. She grabs him by the leg of his pants throwing him off balance. She then grabs his good arm by the sleeve and with her scarf ties his left arm to his right leg. Not done yet she nabs his trench shovel and with pointed end jabs him in his left knee cap crippling his left leg from the knee down.

“Normally I try not to resort to tactical brutality, it’s so rude and unladylike. But back home in Italy _miei Zii (My uncles)_ always tell me “ _le buone maniere non significano nulla se sei morto. (Good manners do not mean anything if you’re dead)”_

Soldier: “Speak English dammit!”

“Oh, you want translation? How about learn how to speak my language _Stronzo (Asshole)._ ” She says giving Soldier a hard swift kick to the chin breaking one side of his jaw.

Soldier: “You call that kicking a face in? Go back to your lacy boot-legged extension of France” He yelled, spitting out a few teeth.

“How dare you insult the only country i can truly call my home and compare me to a lousy French amateur. I want nothing more than to go back home but i can’t… Personally we Italians have no qualms with you Americans nor are we the true threat to your way of life. But i digress.” She said in a melancholy tone as she takes off his boots and gags with his own sweaty socks and rips her knife out of his shoulder.

When she got him to interrogation she hung him upside down by chaining his crippled leg to a hook hanging from the ceiling as his crippled arm dangled uselessly. Soldier looked around the room he saw Scout dangling next to him also beaten, bound and gagged. Medic and Spy hunched over cuffed to their knees with black hoods over their heads. And then he saw Demoman his best friend hog tied and put into a cage with metal spikes pointed closely to his back, sides and in front of and above his head preventing him from moving too much.

 

...

 

Sniper: "First Medic, then Scout, then those two blasting lug heads, I wouldn't be surprised if our Spy was taken out already. This little bugger is pretty quick and hard to track, how is he getting around? Well I'm not letting this one get at me. " Sniper mutters to himself.

"So this is the one that tried shooting me from the balcony. So that means he knows i'm here and is well aware that I'm hunting him down, but maybe he can be reasoned with. He doesn't look dumb like that rocket shooting man-ape from earlier" she thinks to herself as she looks at her slightly tattered dress skirt, bruised legs and soiled boots from her fight with Soldier.

As she quietly slips down from her hiding place  she is caught by surprise when a bullet is shot slightly grazing her arm making her fall to floor.

" _Che diavolo! (What the hell!)_ So much for reasoning with you _Bastardo! (Bastard)_ " She yells as she gets up quickly avoiding the next shot that would've shot through her head.

Sniper: "Hold still you ankle-bit'n snake!"

"How bout' you put'a down the cheap rifle and that pitiful SMG in your pocket and fight me like a man would a woman!" she says moving out of his shooting range and pulling out a fairly large combat knife off a holster strapped to her thigh.

Sniper: "So you're not some bloody Spy disguised as a woman, you're just a tiny doll-faced sheila in a dress. But if it's a knife fight you want, then it'd be rude of me not to oblige." He said tossing his guns aside pulling out the Kukri.

"Well, at least one of you rotten trespassers has some form of basic manners. Though i can't say i care much about your choice of words when addressing a lady in a duel."  She says sarcastically, giving him a light curtsy bow.

Sniper: "Ladies first, ya puffy pint-sized broad." He taunts tipping his hat to her.

"Maybe i should teach you some old fashioned Italian etiquette... By making you suffer in your first lesson!" She yells, going in for a thrust only for him to take side step the blade missing his heart.

Sniper makes the next move, going in for a slice but missing her by an inch which rips a part of her dress's skirt, but this allowed her to turn around, giving him quick a gut punch and slash deeply into his leg. He grabs her by the arm throwing her off him, and giving them some room. She stumbles a few steps before catching her balance and he comes at her lunging in like a savage planning to pin her down, she reacts by twirling to the side, his knife only cuts a few small ends from her bangs. He hits the floor which hurts his leg more. As he's getting up she lunges in, giving him a round house kick to his arm and snapping his elbow the wrong way. She backs off allowing him to get up, he switches his knife to his left hand and slashes at her as she runs at him again, the hit lands cutting through her dress and into her right hip she rolls and stumbles, but drops her knife and falls to her knees. She's hunched over on the floor holding her bleeding wound soaking her white glove in crimson.

Sniper: "you got quite a lot of fight in ya, don't ya there love? But your all tired out. Hope there's no hard feelings but i'm done playing your little game". He says while limping over to her small hunched over form, ready to make the finishing blow.

Then she gets on her hands and bucks him in the pelvis like a donkey, knocking him back he drops his machete to hold his groin with his good hand. She gets up and grabs her blade, she walks up and kicks Sniper until he's flat onto his back. She steps on his wrist flattening his hand and throws her knife into his palm fully pinning it to floor. She then sits on him with her knees bearing down on his chest, her body pressing the air out of his lungs. She takes the bow out of her hair, looks him in the eye as her hair falls into her face, over her shoulders, and down her back. She wraps her ribbon around his neck and starts strangling him.

"You know I kinda like you handsome, you're not afraid to give a lady the rough treatment. It's a shame i have to eventually kill you, I can admire a man such as yourself. " She says in a bittersweet way as she tightens the ribbon more.

Sniper: "You rotten little sadist!" as he managed to choke out the words before he loses consciousness from the lack of oxygen.

She loosens the ribbon, checks his pulse and lightly slaps him on the cheek.

"Good, I definitely want to save you for last." She whispers sweetly into Sniper's ear before she puts his knees over her shoulders and drags him off to the interrogation room.

She pulls a lever on the wall and a large round table with a large painted target come from the floor. She pulled another lever and the table laid like flatbed. She strapped Sniper to this table and pulled the previous lever and the table propped back up. She turned a small wheel which moved the table with ease until it hung high on the wall. She threw a few knives at the board but all of them barely missed Sniper by a quarter inch giving small shallow cuts in his clothes. This action however was intentional she couldn't kill them just yet, not until she captures all of the trespassers. She glances over to Soldier who is scowling at her trying to yell at her with mouth gagged and parts of his jaw broken and Scout whose shaking and is trying to avoid eye contact with her. She walks out of the room closes the door and leans against the wall. She touches the gash on her hip and looks at the soaked blood stained gloves her hands shaking. Feeling a sense of internal panic she rips a long strip of fabric from her dress skirt and presses hard, putting pressure on her wound until the fabric completely covered the gash and tied it around herself in attempt to stop the bleeding.

 

...

 

Heavy heard the fighting and when he got to the scene the hall was covered in blood, leaving a trail for him to follow until it stopped a dead end. He then examined further and noticed a panel in the wall with a bloody handprint on it. He opens the panel to reveal a hidden passageway with more blood on the floor. Heavy follows the blood until it tapered off leaving no more trail to follow. Instead of giving up Heavy looks for another panel which he eventually finds leading into another hallway and not far off into the next hall he hears a woman's voice.

" _Accidenti selvaggi! (Damn savages!)_ I haven't been this beaten up like this since my days in etiquette school! _*sighs*_  I'm surprised I managed to get this far with so little food and sleep these past six days… " she groans in pain and starts heading in the opposite direction.

Heavy manages to make his way to the kitchen without her knowing and starts making some sandwiches, some soup, seared meat and hot cocoa. He puts the meal on the table and waits in plain sight.

Heavy: "Come out little woman, Heavy does not wish to hurt you…"

"Finally, someone reasonable…" she says with sarcasm mixed in with a sigh of relief as she stumbles out of her hiding place.

Heavy could see that even when horribly injured and tired she tries walking over to him with determination and elegance, yet still ready to fight if needed. Her arms and legs are bruised and scraped. Her dress is torn up with a piece of it tied over the bleeding gash on her side, her hair is down and messy, her gloves caked in blood and she ditched most of her other accessories. Heavy wonders how this girl is still able to walk let alone fight for her life against a large portion of his team and still be ready for more. Then he wonders why he's been hired to be her bodyguard, she seems to be able to handle a lot on her own. She stands before him looking up and into his eyes giving him a look that would make lesser men run away in fear. He looks at her with a calm, stoic demeanor showing her that he isn't afraid but also isn't going to fight her. They stood there looking at each other not saying a single word for five minutes then her hardened glare turned into a one that was soft, calm, and semisweet as she sighs gently.

" _*sigh*_ I can tell by the look in your eyes that you have no intentions of causing further harm to me. If that is case then tell me bear sized man, if you are not here to kill me why are you and these other men here on my family's private property?"

Heavy: "Heavy and team hired for job and told to come here to protect a Client from bad men that wish to do harm. Now tell Heavy, why does little woman harm team?"

"They've either attacked me or had the intention to attack me, except for the small scrawny one he just wouldn't shut up. I've been harming your allies just to survive. I've also been capturing all of them alive for later interrogation, but that part seems unnecessary at this point, isn't it?"

"Da, so that means little woman is Sylvia our client, if Heavy is not mistaken?"

Sylvia: "Wait… how did you know my name?"

Heavy then hands over her purse and she immediately understood.

Sylvia: "Ah, normally I'm not so sloppy as to just leave this laying around but thank you for returning it. I wouldn't be surprised if you needed to look into the contents for information."

Heavy: "No problem, now eat. Sylvia must be hungry from fighting team." he says motioning to the food on the table.

Sylvia: Oh most definitely, _grazie orso uomo! (Thank you bear man!_ ) She says with excitement and a warm, sweet smile as they head over to the table.

Heavy taking in the context of her unusual words with her body language gets the general idea that she is genuinely grateful and they sit down to eat.

Sylvia: "So should we release the others before we eat?"

Heavy: "You said team was captured alive?"

Sylvia: "Si, they should be alive, just painfully incapacitated for the time being. Although i wouldn't be surprised if they all want to wring my neck when they're free…"

Heavy: "Then team is fine, first we eat then we release and explain to them… Heavy will make sure team won't hurt Sylvia. "

Sylvia: " _grazie (Thank you)._ You have my gratitude bear man." She said as she takes off her blood covered gloves before eating.

Heavy can tell Sylvia really hadn't eaten well in days, as she quickly scarfs down big bites almost like a starving animal. Of course Heavy has no room to complain about questionable table manners, he's just glad he was able to stop everything from getting worse. Though Heavy ponders how Sylvia would've been able to take him out. She is so small and dainty, and at first glance doesn't look very strong or imposing. To Heavy, Sylvia looks about as threatening as a fussy kitten, yet if she is able to take out over half the team by herself she must be very driven and relentless. Heavy stops pondering to himself and eats his fill at the table with Sylvia who eased herself into eating with better table manners after settling down her starved appetite. Neither of them engage in small talk and enjoy the rest of the meal.

 

...

 

**45 minutes later.**

 

Engineer and Pyro make it back to the base and see Heavy with the client waiting for them at the entrance of the garage.

Pyro: mmrf mrrmf! _(Translation: 'Look Engie, the Fairy Princess!' As Pyro sees Sylvia in Pyro Vision)_

Engie: Yeah, she's cute in all, but she don't look too happy, so don't be given' her hugs just yet Pyro."

Engineer shuts off his truck and climbs in the back with Pyro to gather Sylvia's luggage and as they bring the bags to her. The irritated scowl on her softens into a sign of relief and gratitude.

Engie: "Howdy there little missy, we're really sorry for being late and for any negligence on behalf of our team, but I'm glad to see ya'll still alive." He greets the young lady in a ruined dress caked in blood

Sylvia: "Ciao Tinkerer, and uh... ? She stuttered in confusion as Pyro approached her.

Engie: "oh, this is Pyro! Pyro can't say much, but the little buddy has been very excited to meet you."

Sylvia: I'm still mad that you didn't come pick me up sooner, but I thank you for retrieving my luggage. I couldn't really take it with me when I stole that motor cycle from that man in the leather jacket. I'm glad you and uh... Pyro also choose to not attack me... _('I am far too tired for that shit.' She mutters under her breath)_. You can put to my luggage down when we get to the lounge. Then we shall let the rest of your 'buddies' out of the interrogation room."

 

...

 

**Meanwhile in the interrogation room the others are regaining consciousness.**

 

Spy: "Where am I, and why is everything so dark?"

Medic: "I'm in ze same bout you are… I can't see a ze'ing but judging from the restraints and warm dark fabric on my face we're going tortured and executed!"

Spy: "Well this is just great who else is in here with us?"

Not far from where they are Medic was able to hear two people that are trying to talk but have been gagged and most likely bound in a humiliating manner. He could also hear Demoman mumbling in drunken incoherency before waking up.

Demo: "Gah! Ay, that wee lass kicks 'arder than a' donkey, I gan't feel me face." he says moaning pain

Medic: "I would be glad to assist in relieving your head pain Demoman that is if I weren't trapped in these binds."

Demo: "Sorry mate, can't help ye' even if I want te, the wee lass tied and caged me in wit' a bunch a' spikes. If I move Imma goner for sure."

Then out on the front of the room chained tightly to a human dart board hung on the wall Sniper coughs and gasps as he wakes up and sees everyone in the room.

Sniper: "What the bloody hell is going on!? What the fuck i am strapped onto? Am i on the bloody wall?" he yells, struggling in his binds. "What are you blokes doing there just laying about soiling your trousers for? We're dealing with some vicious Italian sheila in a damn dress. Now get me off this thing wankers!"

Medic: "Vell that's you, me, Demoman, Sniper and two others that are bound and gagged. Making six of us ze Italian Fräulein has captured and made a mockery of. Does that answered your question Spy?

Spy: "Unfortunately Doctor we're not dealing some ordinary Italian dame if she's able take us on so easily."

Sniper: "I certainly gave the little fanny a good gash'r before she got me, if we're lucky the she'll bleed to death before she comes back to finish the job."

Soldier tries yelling racial slurs through his gag in hopes of getting it out of his mouth. While Scout is sobbing hoping Sniper is right.

Spy: "But what can we can we do if she does come back? Most likely with The Heavy as her next prisoner."

Sniper: "If I can get off this crazy thing I'll…"

Sylvia: "You'll do what now, you savage? You already tried gutting me like some cheap hussy and look how that turned out for you!"

Just then the door swings open and she turns on the light as she walks in with Heavy, Pyro and Engineer right behind her.

Engie: "Now, now little missy we didn't come here to raise hell again. I think they've been punished enough." he says slapping the back of Scout's head making him spit out his ball."

Scout: Engie, Heavy, Pyro what the hell!? You're friends with this bitch?

Heavy: "Scout, show respect for Client, unless Scout does not want to be paid for job." He says taking the black hoods off Spy and Medic."

Spy: "Client? You mean to tell us this little Italian woman, who was going torture and kill us, is our client for the bodyguard job?"

Sylvia: "Oh, most definitely. And just you all wait to hear what my father, the man who is paying you quite generously for your services, has to say about my bodyguards playing the side of my executioners." She says letting Spy out of his chains.

Medic: "I don't think that will go vell." he says as Heavy unlocks his chains.

Pyro lets up the spike cage holding down Demoman and cuts him free. Demo gets up and walks up to Sylvia

Demo: So, wee lass ye been on our side this 'ole time yet ye' didn't say a' ting?

Sylvia: Speaking in a soft psychotic tone as she hit past the boiling point "I haven't eaten or slept well in six days, I nearly get killed after getting set up by someone i trusted. When I came home all my bags were packed with a set of instructions telling me what i should be doing. I find out my family was attacked and had to flee Italy. I fly a nine to ten hour flight from my home only to get attacked by the enemy because i wasn't picked up on time. And as I finally manage to make it to my family's estate I get attacked by crazy people!… **What do you think is the appropriate response!?** " She ends with yelling in Demo's face.

Everyone just freezes and stops what they're doing with shocked looks on their faces at the sight of Sylvia yelling at Demoman.

Demo: "ye' got e'self a fair argument there lassie, I'll just keep me mouth shut." He says scared and surprised by her anger.

For a few awkward minutes everyone stood there not saying a word. Feeling ashamed of losing her temper Sylvia wove around the mercenaries towards the door trying not to limp as she storms off.

Sylvia: " _Scusami (Excuse me)_... I'll be in the lounge" her voice squeaked as she left.

After everyone was out of their binds and caught up on the situation the team made their way to the lounge. When they neared the end of the hall they could all hear Sylvia crying. She's laying on a leather couch dialing numbers on a phone sitting on the side table.

Sylvia: Please, pick up… _(Sniffle)_ … I need to hear your voice…

On speaker phone a man's voice answers "Who is this, and how did you get this number?"

Sylvia: " _ciao, padre sono io, (hello, father it's me,)_ Sylvia." She says choked up.

Male Voice: "Sylvia, my sweet little murder angel what is the matter?" The man says in gentle caring tone.

Sylvia: "Many things are wrong, but I'm so glad to hear your voice again papa" She says with tears welling in her eyes.

Male Voice: "Is there anything you want or need to say?"

Sylvia vents everything speaking in Italian (preventing any who isn't fluent in Italian from understanding the conversation) while the her father listened and responding in Italian. The mercenaries stood at the entryway of the lounge watching her lay on the couch talking to her father on the phone crying to who they now know as their employer. Then she gets to the part about the violent mix up with the mercs and her dad blows his lid.

Male Voice: "WHAT?! Get those rotten good for nothing bastards in this room and put me on speaker!" Her Father yells with fury and authority.

Sylvia: "Your already on speaker Father, and the 'bastards' are practically in the room as we speak." she says glaring at them with tears and smeared makeup running down her face.

Male Voice: "All of you, get your asses in here NOW!" he says with an angry menacing tone.

They all walk into the room with looks of shock, embarrassment, and shame in their demeanor. Sylvia gets off the couch walks over to her luggage and looks through her bags pulling out a gun and a bag of candy.

Sylvia: "As much as i would enjoy listening to my father berate you all I need to clean up and get some beauty sleep. My room is on the second floor of the east building 5th door to the left hallway. If i'm asleep leave my luggage outside the door and I'll unpack later. Lastly if any of you try coming into my room uninvited I will shoot you on sight. Got it?"

All of them said "Got it" at the same time.

Male Voice: "Good night _Figlia (Daughter)_ , sweet dreams." her father says in a loving manner.

Sylvia: " _Addio (goodbye)_ papa, give my love and regards to everyone in our family, and please be careful wherever you are." She says trying to wipe the tears from her face. 

Male Voice: "You know the old family saying?"

Sylvia: "I could never forget."

" _Assapora ogni momento, perché ogni incontro che abbiamo potrebbe essere l'ultimo (Savor every moment, for every meeting we have could be our last.)"_ they said simultaneously.

As Sylvia walks out of the and toward an elevator, she has barely left the room and she can already hear father yelling at the mercenaries. Entering the elevator she sighs and she says to herself as she pops a candy in her mouth…

"I'll face the fact eventually… I'm stuck with this band of _idioti_ , even if it kills me…"

 

...

 

**End of Chapter 1**


	2. Waking Pains (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get worse before they get any better as the accumulated pain from Sylvia's wounds finally catch up to her making her most unwell in both body and mind. After she attacks Medic in a state of fever induced aggression questions arise about her and what she knows about this 'Agency' she speaks of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After losing progress a few times due to errors on my part, I realized this chapter was too long to edit and keep track of so i split it up so i can work on making a good story that i can be happy to make and for you to enjoy.
> 
> One of reasons Chapter 1 was so longwinded was because there was so much i had done already so merging the drafts i had made more sense for this grand introduction into EoM but with these further chapters i'm going to try to make them slightly shorter and make them easier for you to read and easier for me to make edits when needed.

 

 

 

**Rockside Compound - Late Evening**

 

 

 

Male Voice: “Idioti, all of you! ugh _Mio Dio (My God)_! Of all the things to go wrong, why this?! _Mia_ _figlia_ _(My Daughter),_ I haven’t heard her be this upset before. What did you imbeciles do?”

 

Engineer: “We were late in picking her up from the airport, and things went south from there.”

 

Male Voice: “How could you forget to pick her up from the airport? It was the first thing you were supposed to do **before** making it to Rockside. and what’s this about my daughter telling me that she was attacked?!”

 

Spy: “We thought she was a trespasser or an enemy Spy. We can never be too careful”

 

Male Voice: “No excuses! Didn’t any of you read the information sent to you? It was supposed to go over the identification procedures ”

 

Engineer: “A few of the folks here have trouble with reading.”

 

The man went silent. Then they heard a gunshot and what sounded like a bottle breaking in background of the call for a moment.

 

Male Voice: “ugh … I’ll regard that as an oversight on my part. But I am going to say this in a way i know all of you will be able to understand… If you all fail to keep my daughter safe not only will you not receive your bonuses but I will be sure to have you all hunted down for the rest of your miserable lives until i see that all of you are sitting at the bottom of the canals of Venice!” The man warned as he hung up on them.

 

The mercenaries stood there looking at each other in awkward silence as some of them realize the weight of the situation and what just happened then the ones who were injured just realized how much their wounds actually hurt.

 

Scout, Soldier, Demoman, Spy and Sniper _(almost simultaneously)_ : MEEEEEDIC!

 

Medic: "Stop your crying Dummkopfs and follow me." He said face palming in annoyance.

 

…

 

**Meanwhile**

 

Locking herself in her room Sylvia drags her feet, holding on to what she could for support as she takes off her completely ruined dress, soiled boots and leg holster and her white silk gloves that are now stained red with blood, then she looks herself over. Cuts and scrapes from rocket shrapnel cover her legs, bruises on her arms from being grabbed, tossed and manhandled, and the gash on her right hip from the knife fight. The cut was long and jagged but was rather shallow. She had used a piece of her skirt to dress the wound and stop the bleeding but she can tell by how dizzy and lightheaded she felt was that she had lost a lot of blood. Then she looked at her face in the mirror wiping off the tear smeared eyeliner and mascara from her face only to see how tired and ragged she really was. She looked like death and felt like it too as bags under her eyes showed the days of fatigue that are now catching up to her. Normally she had pale lightly sunned over skin and a peachy pink complexion but she could barely recognize herself as her skin was now a ghostly white with her cheeks being flushed and red and sweat ran down her face making her look like a melting wax doll.

 

Sylvia: _< Look at yourself D'argento, you're a pathetic mess, Your Aunties would be yelling at you right now if they saw you like this! _

_But hey no point whining about squished grapes when you got this far into making wine... Right? >_ she said to herself in Italian.

 

Even though she tried not to show it in front of the Mercenaries everything hurt. Her hands and knees trembled from exhaustion, chills ran down her back and every muscle felt tenderized and sore. She brushes the matting from her hair as her breathing became uneven and her vision was becoming fuzzy as she looked at in the mirror. She grabs a pair of tweezers and takes two purple gels out of her mouth and puts them in a small black case. She takes out her contacts and cleans them out before putting them away. A wave of pain came over her entire body making her hunch over the toilet puking out her dinner and a little bit of blood. Gasping for air and wiping her mouth she picks herself up nearly falling over but holds onto the tub and draws a bath. The warm water stung at her cuts as she get in but the pain quickly eased, her muscles finally relaxing after nearly a whole week of no rest that it almost puts her to sleep. The water turned a muted red as she washed the blood and blast residue from her body. She gets out of the tub trailing water behind her with each footstep. She dries off and gets into a plush powder blue bathrobe. She washes her hair in the sink until it was nice and silky then she heard a knock at the door as she wrings the soapy water out of her hair…

 

…

 

**As Engineer and Heavy bring up Sylvia’s luggage and knock at the bedroom door.**

 

Engie: “The little missy really took quite a beating, we ought to get her to see Medic right away.”

 

Heavy: “Da, little Sylvia need Doktor’s help.”

 

Engie: “Yeah, her daddy made it very clear that we need to be taking care of her but I’m not sure how on board the others are after she picked ’em off the way she did.”

 

Heavy: “We get paid for job, now we must do job or pay with lives…” he said with quiet unease.

 

They hear the door unlock and slowly open revealing the small girl in a powder blue bathrobe that drags down past her ankles, an exhausted and sickly look on her face with her eyes half open as she holds the doorframe to steady herself.

 

Sylvia: Si,  _Cosa?( Yes, What?)_ she said in Italian only to be met with confused looks.

 

Heavy and Engie: …?

 

Sylvia: “… oh right, eh… What do you want?” she said changing her speaking pattern to near perfect english

 

Engie: “We brought your things.”

 

Sylvia: “oh i was just about to turn in for the night, but please come in and put the cases next to the closet.” she smiles letting them into her room.

 

They put down the bags and Sylvia unlatches one of the cases revealing an arsenal bladed weapons.

 

Engie: _*Whistles*_ “hoo wee, quite the cutlery collection you go there.”

 

Sylvia: “heh, these merely the essentials. You should see what i have back home… you’d get a cut just by looking at that collection.” She chuckled.

 

Engie: “so speaking of cuts, you need to see the doc about those injuries you got.”

 

Sylvia: “ I already caused quite the burden, I can take care of myself... besides bad things tend to happen when I go to hospitals” She said with labored breathing.

 

Her smile goes away as she gets up from the case and limps into the closet.

 

Heavy: “You can barely walk, you see doktor now.”

 

Sylvia: “No, I’m fine, really… I just need to get some rest…” she says grabbing a night gown.

 

But before she could put it on her vision blurred, her legs finally gave out, and all she could hear was the pounding in her head as she blacked out and hit the floor. Heavy and Engineer heard a loud thud from the closet they look at each other concerned. Engineer goes inside to see Sylvia on the floor. He quickly gets to her side and noticed that she was sweating and shaking. When he saw her face it was flushed and her cheeks were unnaturally red, he felt her face it was burning up and as he touched her she curled into a tight ball groaning in pain and discomfort. He opens her robe too look at her wounds and looks in horror at the large gash.

 

Engie: “Heavy! It’s worse than we thought we need to get her to the Med Bay right away! Help me get her up!” he said urgently as he tightly wraps the robe back around her.

 

Trying to stay calm Heavy comes in bends down slowly taking her head in his giant hand, he rubs his large thumb over her cheek, she whimpers as she buries her face in his palm. With his other hand he gently rubs along her back to try to soothe her while avoiding her injuries. Heavy carefully scoops Sylvia up off the floor and into his arms holding her close to his chest. Engineer rushes out of the room first to find one of the layout maps. Looking it over he figured the fastest route to the Med Bay. Heavy not far behind asked where to go.

 

Engie: “We’re on the second floor of the eastern part of the compound, the Med Bay on the first floor in the northern portion, lets take this route and hurry.”

 

After taking the elevator down, they go down the halls with Engineer leading the the way with Heavy not far behind. As he was charging forward Heavy felt Sylvia burrow herself closer to him, her hand clutching tightly at his shirt, her head bobbed slightly and she looked up at him her eyes half open.

 

Sylvia: “Mister… where are you taking me?” she asked him in dazed confusion.

 

Heavy: “A place where little Sylvia can be helped.” He said trying to reassure her.

 

Sylvia lost her grip on his shirt her hand was shaking as her arm fell over the side. Heavy took her small hand into his much larger one gently rubbing her fingers between his until her hand stopped shaking. He then placed her hand over her heart and putting his hand over to her side in order to hold her shoulders more securely. Sylvia closed her eyes laying her head on Heavy’s chest not saying much else other than incoherent mumblings in Italian. His heart drummed loudly in his chest as he holds this small dainty woman in his arms not sure if she will be alright. But he knew that Medic won't let her die so easily and that his friend was the best at what he does. Engineer opens the door to the Med Bay and Heavy follows in turn.

 

…

 

Medic knew he was going busy all that night tending to wounded luckily when Sylvia knocked him out the only injuries he suffered were superficial at best with a popped blood vessel on his forehead from hitting the floor and a groggy headache from being drugged. However his equipment has yet to be shipped over making things far more difficult. If he had known things would go so wrong he would've brought his equipment with him, but he wanted to see if this base's Med Bay was any good before having Miss Pauling send his equipment and his doves _(Who are being watched by Miss Pauling for safe keeping)_. Luckily Rockside's medical facility is well supplied with state of the art equipment and various drugs and medicines that not even the best hospitals in the world have _(even though they don't instantly heal all wounds like his Mediguns and the drugs he's concocted over the years.)_

 

Medic: “How can such a tiny Fräulein do so much damage and in such a short span of time?” he says as he snaps Sniper’s broken arm back into place and wrapping it in a sling.

 

Sniper: “Ah! bloody hell!" He yells then sighs as the pain subsides he rubs the bruising on his neck to find the ribbon used to strangle him still loosely tied around his neck. "Dunno what to tell ya doc, i'v fought off dangerous animals that were more tame than that sheila.” he says as he slips off the long strand of satin from his neck.

Sniper looks down at the ribbon running it between his fingers as he gets lost in thought. Medic finishes fixing him up as best he can and moves onto helping Scout.

 

Spy: _“Petite Italienne harpie! ( Little Italian Harpy!)_ , How was she able to make fools out of us? I mean Scout isn’t any surprise…” _(Scout glares from the background)_ “but how was she able to take out the majority of us with little to nothing to arm herself with?” he says laying in a cot holding his broken ribs.

 

Medic: "Imagine what she would've done to us then if she were properly armed while in peak condition?" 

 

Spy: "Honestly i would rather not think of that and be glad she wasn't, her unarmed skills are quite damning on their own." 

 

Medic: “Ja, her strength and endurance is astounding for her tiny stature i wonder where it comes from?” he says examining Scouts injuries.

 

Spy: "She mentioned something about an 'Agency' before she took me out. Seems like something to look into..."

 

While Medic finished putting Scout’s arm in a cast Engineer runs into the Med Bay out of breath.

 

Engie: “Doc! *huff* We got a problem!” he said panting and wheezing.

 

Medic: “ _Was jetzt_ _? (What now?)_ Can’t you see I have enough to do without my equipment?”

 

Just then Heavy walks in holding Sylvia in a bathrobe looking most unwell. Medic immediately drops what he’s doing to get a better look. He could tell just by seeing how red her face is and the profuse sweating that she was running a very high fever. Her head bobbed slightly and her eyes opened a little.

 

Sylvia: “ugh… too bright… where am I?… _(dizzily looks up at Heavy and smiles)_ Tito is that you? I missed you, you _grande but amiable_ _(big lovable ox_ ) … Did you miss me too?”

 

Heavy: "... Who is Tito?"

 

Sylvia: "oh surely you have not forgotten us  Titano? I miss you, we **all** miss you but now your out of prison we can take down the Agency together and make them pay..."

 

Heavy: "I am Heavy Weapons Guy not man you call Tito, I am sorry Sylvia."  He said feeling pained by the look of saddened confusion on Sylvia's face as he told her.

 

Medic watched as Sylvia's fever fueled delusions made her see Heavy as someone who was familiar to her, someone she cares about and seeing this display almost makes him feel sorry for the girl. Sylvia cocked her head and squinted her eyes in curiosity as her hand reached for Heavy's face but before her fingers touched him Medic approached closer and her full attention turned toward him. Her expression changed to one of pure terror and she started squirming in Heavy’s arms Medic reaches his hand for her anyway. Her eyes focused on his lab coat for a split second before smacking his arm away. She nearly struggles out of Heavy’s grasp as she starts strangling Medic.

 

Sylvia: “No… Not again… I won't let you!" She hissed with fury in her gaze

 

Medic: "vhat do mean? I've never done anything to you?" he choked out as Engineer ripped Sylvia off of him.

 

"I won’t let you Agency White Coats take me back to that cursed facility!” she screams hysterically as Medic backed away from her giving room between them.

 

Heavy: “What is wrong? Doctor is trying to help little Sylvia.” He says surprised by her sudden burst of strength.

 

Heavy holds Sylvia back trying to keep her from hurting herself or anyone else.

 

Medic: “Heavy!Ze Fräulein has lost lots of blood and has been running around with a high fever for who knows how long, it is making her delirious.  Just hold her down and I vill handle ze rest.” he says readying a syringe filled with tranquilizer.

 

Sylvia struggled and squirmed slipping out of her bathrobe and out of Heavy’s grasp going for Medic with all of her flesh exposed. She lunges in going for his throat. But before she could get her hands on his neck again Medic plunged the needle deep into her shoulder stopping her dead in her tracks. When he took the needle out she staggered falling to her weaker side. Medic caught her effortlessly by her midsection with one arm as the girl quickly went limp. Slumped over in his arm her head bobbed turning to face towards him with a look of helplessness.

 

Sylvia: “No… please… not again… Don't take me... away...” she whimpered like a helpless child before losing consciousness.

 

Medic: “Shh... hush now… Sleep little Fräuline, no one is here to hurt you or take you away.” He said stroking her long lochs of blonde hair as he carried her over to a cot and gently laid her down to check her wounds. _"Oh mein Gott! How could she even make herself move with all these wounds and not complain once?"_ he thought to himself as he took some X-rays then dressed her wounds.

 

Medic worked throughout the entire night without rest until everyone who was injured had been helped and rested into a cot in the Med Bay. He called Miss Pauling telling her what happened and to have his birds and equipment rushed over ahead of schedule.

 

…

 

**The next morning.**

 

Sylvia continued to sleep deeply even when Pyro came in with breakfast for everyone. After being told that Soldier's jaw was broken Pyro made oatmeal for breakfast. After giving everyone breakfast Pyro stood over her bedside watching her with a childlike curiosity _(In Pyro vision Sylvia is seen as a small pretty princess sleeping on a big flower, white and red flower pedals on her arms and legs with long flowing hair and cute little wings on her back)_. The look on her face told Pyro that she was troubled even as she slept. Pyro tried spoon feeding her oatmeal only for it to drip down her chin. Pyro realized it wasn't working so Pyro gave up trying to feed her and set the oatmeal on fire. Pyro cleaned the oatmeal from her face with a handkerchief then set the hanky on fire. Pyro grabbed a comb and brushed the matting from her hair and when Pyro was done brushing her hair Pyro set the comb on fire. Pyro had put all the burning objects into a bin and watched the flames dance in a flurry of bubbles and colors until Medic grabbed an extinguisher and snuffed out the fire with an annoyed look on his face. Pyro shrugged then gave Sylvia an extra pillow and tucked Balloonicorn under her arm. Pyro patted her on the head and skipped over to the others.

 

Scout: “Pyro what were doing around _her_?” he said with an edge of sass in his tone.

 

Pyro: “huuur, mmmd mrpf hudda huddah duur. _(She looked upset, so i made her comfy and gave her Balloonicorn to protect her dreams.)”_

 

Scout: “Seriously? I mean look what she did to us!” 

 

Spy: “Scout you’re wasting your breath by auguring about this especially since Pyro can barely understand what she did to us. Anyway ze girl’s safety is our responsibility now, whether we like it or not.”

 

Scout: “Really? You too? Unfrigginbelievable she made us look like chumps and even you’re kissin’ her a…”

 

Sniper: “Shut yer cake hole ya little bludger! The best we can do for now is to not give that sheila more reasons to want to bloody kill us.”

 

Demoman: “Right now this is our job laddie. Besides the wee lass can’t do everything er ’self. Sure she really put us 'ough the wringer but did ye see the beat’n she took?”

 

Soldier: “I’m not afraid of that dress wearing pepperoni peeling creampuff!” he said with his broken jaw.

 

Medic: “Soldier stop talking, she broke your jaw in three places. And until i get my equipment is delivered you need to keep dat mouth shut or I vill wire it shut.” he said in tired irritation.

 

Sniper: “oi doc, when did ya get any sleep? Ya look terrible.”

 

Medic: “I vill rest better once everyone is back to perfect condition. I should have my Medigun before zis afternoon.”

 

 

…

 

**Later that same morning.**

 

Medic let Archimedes and his other doves out of cages allowing them to fly and perch all around the facilities. Archimedes perches on Medic’s shoulder as he unpacks his Medigun and after making some tweaks heals Sylvia and the team of their injuries. While everyone else walks out of the Med Bay feeling good as new Sylvia however still hasn’t woken up.

 

Heavy: “When do you think she will wake up?” he said looking down at Sylvia with concern. 

 

Medic: “My Mediguns can regrow bones, mend the flesh, and so much more… but aiding the immune system was something i could never figure out in their design. zat and I gave her enough tranquilizer to knock out a horse.” He said unwrapping the blood soiled gauze from Sylvia's arms and legs. 

Medic stood over Sylvia, her perfectly healed body showing no signs of permanent damage or scarring. Putting a fresh blanket over the sleeping girl he takes her temperature which went down but not by much, luckily the profuse sweating and body tremors had stopped. Archimedes coos as Medic opens one of her eyes to see the purple iris _"Ja purple eyes, a very rare trait to have indeed"_  he muttered to Archimedes to himself as he pats Sylvia's head moving hair from her face he gives her some medicine to help reduce her fever.

 

Heavy: “You did good Doktor, now get rest. Heavy will watch Sylvia.” he says with a smile and pats Medic on the back.

 

Medic: “Danke Heavy, I will.” He gives a small tired smile back to the larger man as he disposes of the soiled bandages.

 

He wonders what made her say those things to him, he knows what she said wasn’t directed at him personally due to the various factors that made her so incoherent. But something set off her reaction and he is curious to find out what. Medic walks off into the Lab right next door to the Med Bay to look at her X-rays and makes a baffling discovery.

 

Medic: “Hmm… theres not so much as a hairline fracture from the beating she took. How is this even possible?” He asked Archimedes.

 

Archimedes cooed in reply and Medic began studying some samples of Sylvia’s hair and blood among the other little things he took from her to examine and found quite a few anomalies. A strange metallic substance not found in normal human blood that coats Sylvia's blood cells and lets off a faint yellow glow when seen under a microscope. 

 

Medic: “Looks like there’s more to zis little Frau than vhat i initially thought. zere must be more…”

 

Archimedes cooed in agreement.

 

…

 

After being healed Spy and Scout went into Sylvia’s room to clean up any mess left behind as well as look into information they can find about their little client. They see Sylvia's ruined clothes and personal items left half-hazardly on the floor in a path to the private bathroom. When they look in the bathroom it looks like a crime scene with bloodied water left in the tub and trailed on the tiled floor, makeup stained rags over the sink and vomit in the toilet bowl.

 

Scout: “So tell me again why we’re cleaning Sylvia’s room?”

 

Spy: “So ze mademoiselle doesn’t make us do it later when she wakes up. Besides it is best that we should try to make up for our mistakes somehow.” He says handing Scout a mop bucket pointing him to the mess in the bathroom.

 

Scout: "yeah sure, but knowing you, you probably want an excuse to snoop around in her things."

 

Spy: "Well at least you're catching on but are you getting the bigger picture?" 

 

Scout: "Do what you want, but i'm not going to give Sylvia another reason to hate my guts more than she probably already does. "

 

While Scout cleaned the bathroom Spy looked around the room the walls are painted a gentle midnight blue. The room’s lights are red light wall lamps that are turned on by a dimmer switch which compliments the walls. From where he stands near the doorway of the large bedroom he sees the upper right side is the personal bathroom and the lower right corner he sees the walk-in closet. At the wall between the closet and bathroom sits a king sized bed with lush purple covers. A green love seat and a matching chair furniture set sits in the upper left side of the room next to a bookshelf and a gray coffee table. The lower left side of the room has a vanity next to a large wall mirror strategically angled to see into the hallway from the bed. Spy then picks up the shredded dress and dirtied go-go boots off the floor. Then Scout comes out of the bathroom.

 

Scout: “Yeesh! betcha ya glad ya didn’t get into a knife fight with this chick, huh Spy?” he said holding up Sylvia’s blooded white gloves and the knife holster pulling out the blade partway.

 

Spy: “The Bushman barely managed to fend her off. The girl could’ve killed us anytime she felt like but she sought to make us suffer instead."

 

Scout: "Yeah what's her deal? First she was all nice and sweet then she starts throwing a bitch fit about me being a loud mouth. I mean that's stupid, girls love how great i am. i mean look me I bet she can't get a guy like me where she's from."

 

Spy: "Yet you wonder why women with actual standards are so quick to slap your mouth shut."

 

Scout: "How bout i slap your mouth shut le douchebag." He said slapping Spy with Sylvia's soiled gloves.

 

Spy rips the gloves out from Scout's hand and puts them and the torn dress into the trash and the boots into the closet. He sees Sylvia's suitcases in front of the closet and goes over to inspect them. He looks in the already opened case seeing the variety of blades. Spy’s jaw drops as he sees a blade for just about any situation from razors as small as a fingernail to a Roman Gladius _(a type of Roman Shortsword)_.

 

Spy: “This woman is more than prepared to... She's insane ” he said after his cigarette falls from his mouth.

 

Scout: “Holy crap! She brought the whole knife drawer! What’s next the kitchen sink?”

 

Spy: “From the looks of these other cases they’re also filled with weapons.”

 

Scout: “If this rich girl has all these weapons and can basically rip anyone apart what does she need us for? I mean i'm not good at math but taking on 6 outta 9 and winning ain't bad for any of us on a good day back at Teufort. If she can do that she shouldn't even need us.”

 

Spy: "Didn’t you listen to what Demoman said this morning?" he says with deadpan expression.

 

Scout: “uh no, not really…” he admits awkwardly. 

 

Spy: “The girl is skilled sure, and she knows how to take on anyone larger than her, quite effectively i might add. But she can’t do everything. However i have reason to think that whatever this threat is that we’re facing seems bigger than what she can handle on her own.”

 

Scout: “So what you're saying is that this job might be bigger than babysitting this bitch?”

 

Spy: “Exactly!  She mentioned something about an 'Agency' before she took me out, and her hysterical fit against Medic is actually very telling. She might have history with this organization… Whatever this 'Agency ' is it potentially has something to do with the enemy we are facing and by extension any secrets they might have on this girl and why they want her dead.”

 

Scout: “Well I don’t really care what this whole “Agency” crap is, the sooner we bash in their skulls the sooner we get this brat off our asses.”

 

Spy: “I don’t believe it will be so simple.”

 

Scout left the room after cleaning the bathroom but Spy stuck around to see if he could find any more information.

 

…

 

****

**End of Chapter 2**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any cringey grammar if your German, Italian, and French i'm american and i don't really get the sentence structures in those languages. As of right now i'm using Google translate for basic words and phrases but when i have more time on my hands i plan to actually learn how these languages work.
> 
> Here's a bit of my personal background
> 
> The first Meet the Team video i saw was Meet The Soldier which made me laugh so much that i couldn't breath but it didn't really pique my interest in TF2 and i completely forgot about it for years...  
> Skip to May 2017 my best friend RockOwl boots up TF2 while we're hanging out at my place and slowly but surely memories of seeing Meet the Soldier resurfaces like that sneaky cold i had that never really went away and turned into a crippling sinus infection. TF2 infected my life but unlike that miserable sinus infection there's no cure for loving TF2!
> 
> Yes i can remember the 2 times i had really bad sinus infections but i have trouble remembering to save my shit. *Derp*


	3. Waking Pains (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can learn a lot about a person after finding them passed out on the bathroom floor as Sniper soon discovers.  
> And everyone finds out what happens when you break Sylvia's one and only rule.  
> So remember...  
> Be Polite, Be Efficient... And stay out of Sylvia's Room!

 

 

**Rockside Compound: Late at Night**

Sylvia’s eyes snapped opened only to be blinded by the bright lights of the Med Bay. Her eyes adjusted to see the large Russian man sleeping in a chair next to her bed. She didn’t see him but she heard the snores of the German doctor from across the room. She very quietly slipped out of the cot and snuck out of the Med Bay. She still felt very tired and groggy but most of all she was thirsty. Her knees felt like jelly and her head still felt hazy. She stumbled as she walked until she went into a bathroom. Sylvia went to the sink and drank strait from the faucet. But she drank too much too fast and the water hit her empty stomach like a hard stone. Clenching her stomach she did her best not to throw it all back up. She doubled over falling to the floor. She curled into a ball ( _still clenching her stomach and she uncurled when it stopped hurting)_. Still exhausted she rested her warm face on the cold tile. She relaxed on her side before she blacked out again.

_(during this entire time she didn’t notice that she was naked and she won’t have any recollection of this)_

…

****

**Meanwhile down the next hallway...**

It took him all day and few coffee breaks but Sniper finally finished mopping up the mess leftover from his fight with Sylvia. He took the bucket filled with bloodied mop water and walked down hall. When he got close to the bathroom he heard a faucet running. Sniper went in the bathroom and found Sylvia sleeping on the floor. Confused on why she was there Sniper put the bucket down and turned off the water. He squatted down putting his hand on her shoulder. Her skin was soft yet cooled to the touch. He gently rocked her shoulder but instead of waking her she flops onto her back.

Sniper felt his heart race when saw her naked body laying on the floor in front of him. She may be a little thing but she's certainly no child. Her small feet, thin shins yet well rounded thighs makes it hard to believe that her kicks hurt like a bitch. His eyes go over to where he hit her in the knife fight and felt some guilt that he that what he did nearly killed her. He looked further up to see her long blonde hair framed around her waist and shoulders with some strands covering her breasts which for some reason look bigger without her dress on, she one hand was over stomach while her other hand was off the her side on the floor. But trying not be too rude he focuses his gaze on her face, her forehead is covered by her messy bangs while her long eyelashes flittered as her eyelids twitched.

 

"Well she's attractive that's for sure" he muttered to himself.

 

He figured he should wake her and get her off the cold floor.

Sniper: “Oi Sylvia… you alright?” he says patting her face with the back of his hand.

Sylvia: “No, I don’t wanna go to etiquette lessons today… _(Snores)_ ” she talked in her sleep.

Sniper:“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ on being alright” he thinks to himself as he tries to rouse her again. “ Oi Duchess, wake up! ”

Sylvia: “Eh… _(her eyes open and acknowledges him)_ … oh it’s you…" she said yawning and rubbing her eyes. _" <You're that handsome savage that nearly killed me>…”_ she mutters in Italian.

When she stopped yawning she looked up blinking at him with a small grin and gave him a humored chuckle.

Sylvia: “What’s with that funny look on your face?”

Sniper averted his gaze nervously rubbing the back of his neck not sure what to tell her. She sits up tilting her head and squints her eyes at him for his lack of answer then looks down realizing she was naked stares back at him and froze.

Sylvia: “…! Huh? What's going on why am i naked?” She said panicked.

Sniper: “ You’ve been out for a couple days, ya had to be tranquilized… Don’t you remember the other night when you went crazy and tried attacking the Doc?” he asked.

Sylvia: “I did **what?!** No, all I remember is letting the Tinkerer and the Bear Man in my room to drop off my things but when i went  to change for the night everything got all blurred and hazy. But that doesn’t explain why I’m in here with you ‘like this’! ” She said defensively trying to hide her bare chest.

Sniper: “Not sure how ya got in here but i was bout to dump some mop water and this is how i found you.” He said noticing her face getting all bright red.

Sylvia: “ This is so humiliating…Why does everything keep going so wrong!” She her voice squeaked.

Sylvia whimpers not sure how to deal with the situation as tears welled up in her eyes and is about to start crying. Sniper sighs and stands up picking her off the floor and helps her stand on her feet. He takes off his shirt and without a word pops her head through the collar then lets the fabric fall over covering her up. Sylvia looked surprised by this blinking out the tears and looks up at Sniper slowly slipping her arms through the sleeves. The shirt drapes over her like an oversized dress with the length of the shirt going past her knees, the big open collar showing a little of her cleavage and the sleeves nearly covering her hands, and her curves poke through as she wiggles around to look herself over.

Sniper: “How’s that for ya there Duchess?” he asked in a polite yet aloof manner.

Sylvia:“umm… much appreciated… but why?” She stuttered shyly.

Sniper: “No sight more guttin’ than seeing a sheila bout bawl her eyes out. Now lets say we get outta here, wouldn't be right of me to let a lady walk the halls alone at night.” He said offering out his forearm.

 

Sylvia smiled at him as she took hold with both her arms one arm wrapped around his upper arm while her other hand rested on his wrist and she allowed him to escort her out of the bathroom. They walk through the halls in silence as to not wake anyone he looks down at her and sees her look of confusion. She stares down at his hand with a strange fixation, running her index finger down the middle and presses her fingernail in.

Sniper: "What are you doing?"

Sylvia: "Your hand..." she says flipping his hand over to look at his palm.

Sniper: "What of it?"

Sylvia: "I threw a 10 inch blade through it, your hand **should** have a hole in it... and I know hands don't heal like this overnight." She said poking her finger into his palm.

Sniper: "Oh, that's right your new to how this team works, and you weren't awake to see the Doc work his wonders on everyone." He said scratching his stubble.

Sylvia: "What do you mean by 'Wonders' signore?" She squints her eyes speaking with skepticism.

Sniper: "I'm surprised you didn't notice when ya woke up but take a gander for yourself." He says pointing his other hand at her right hip.

She let go of him and they stop in the hall as she cautiously lifts the shirt from over her hip and saw that the gash was gone without a trace not even a scar. She could not believe her eyes as she looked her hip then at him then back at her hip. She let go of the shirt and was about to let out a scream but then Sniper quickly put his hand over her mouth. He tilts her head up making her face him as he stares her down through the reflection of his sunglasses. She saw that his expression more serious than his normally aloof demeanor.

Sniper: "Are you trying to wake everyone? Dunno about you but the others aren't exactly happy about this 'arrangement' that your dad set up and you won't be winning yourself any favors if you wake them up to a false alarm. I'm going to take my hand off your mouth but i need you to keep your voice down alright?" he said in low husky voice that made everything about her melt.

"Mm hmm" Sylvia nods her head and lets out a breath through her nose letting him know that she wasn't going to scream. He removes his hand from her mouth as she breaths and takes time to process what she was presented with. She chose her words carefully while thinking of how to speak.

Sylvia: " I have many questions but i'm fine... I suppose I should thank il Dottore _(The Doctor)_ when i get the chance." She said still in disbelief.

 

Sniper puts his hand on her shoulder and they continue walking down the halls until her stomach growled.

 

Sniper: “You wanna get a bite to eat?”

She nodded her head eagerly with a look of embarrassment on her face. They went to kitchen and they made some fried ham and eggs, jam covered toast andsome mint tea. Sylvia was so hungry that she ate with rather big bites almost choking down the eggs. But she slowed down when she caught Sniper staring at the atrocity that is her table manners.

 

Sniper: “So what’s it like for you back home? You and your dad seem pretty close.”

 

Sylvia: “Well, normally in my household i live with my Father, his twin brother and one of my cousins.”

 

Sniper: “What bout yer mum?”

 

Sylvia: “A Madre?… I don’t have one…”  She shrugs.

 

Sniper: “Why don’t you have a mum?”

 

Sylvia: “Daddy found me when i was barely a teenager, he wasn’t married when he took me in but he said he doesn’t need a wife to be happy and that i’m the only girl he needs to care about." She said with a look fondness in her smile.

 

Sniper: "Seems like your dad takes pretty good care of you without needing to give you a mum."

 

Sylvia: "Eh, I have my aunts to fill in as mothers, i also spend time with my uncles and i have so many cousins that i’ve lost count.” _(said with a laugh then trails off)_ “…I just wish i knew where they were and if they’re alright with how wrong things have been lately” _(she looks down slowly frowning putting her head down on the table and looks away from him.)_

 

 Sniper: "I'm sure they're all just as worried about you as you are for them Duchess." 

 

Sylvia: "What about you? Do you have anyone back home who would worry about you?" She asked her eyes gazed back to him.

Sniper thought back to the folks that raised him sure after he became an assassin his dad became far more bitter and they fought constantly with his mum trying to be the peace keeper between them. He knew his mum didn’t care for his job either but she tried to be supportive nonetheless. At first he was more than pissed off at them for never telling him the truth before they died. He came to his own conclusion that they didn’t tell him because they didn’t want him to think any less of himself or they didn't know how to explain how a baby crash landed in their bloody yard in a shoddy rocket ship from New Zealand. However after what happened to him down in New Zealand thinking of his birth parents Bill-Bel and Lar-Nah just makes him feel sick to whatever weird assortment of exotic animal guts Medic used to revive him with. Then he sees Sylvia sitting across from him her head on the table sulking and worried sick about a family she might lose.

 

Sniper: "Not anymore my folks passed away a few years ago."

 

Sylvia: "Oh... I suppose shouldn't have asked something so personal." she said sitting up.

 

Sniper: "Nah it's fine, it only bothers me when people apologize to me when they don't really understand."

 

Sylvia: " _Assapora ogni momento, perché ogni incontro che abbiamo potrebbe essere l'ultimo_ " She said finishing her tea.

 

Sniper: "What did you say?"

 

Sylvia: " 'Savor every moment, for every meeting we have could be our last... ' It's an old family saying." 

 

Sniper: "What does it mean?"

 

Sylvia: "It's mostly up for interpretation, but i think it means to remember the joys spent with those you hold dear even if you don't know when you will meet up again."

 

Sniper: "heh, quite the poetic one aren't you. Well anyway i’m stuffed, ya want me walk you to your room before i turn in for the night?" he said finishing his food.

Sylvia: “hmm, sure.”

As Sniper looked down at the short pale girl casually strolling around in the hall wearing nothing but his shirt he can’t help but wonder if she even wanted to come here anymore than him or the others. They get to her bedroom door and he opens it for her. She grabs at the shirt looking unsure if she should take it off.

Sniper: “Don’t worry bout the shirt i can manage.”

Sylvia: “May i ask your name? It only feels right to express gratitude when you can refer to a person by name.” She said looking a little bashful.

Sniper: “The name's Mundy” he smiles.

 

Sylvia: “Grazie _(Thank you)_   Mundy, you have my sincerest gratitude.” She whispers to him.

Sylvia gets on her tiptoes putting one hand on his shoulder pulling him down to meet her at eye level. She cups his face in her other hand as she kisses him on the cheek. It only lasted a moment when her soft lips touched his rough stubble, her slow steady breaths whisked past his ear, her long hair brushed against his shoulder as her soft messy bangs tickled his nose with the faint scent of lilac until she let go of him her fingers slipping down his chin. The way Sylvia looks up at him with her big purple eyes sparkling like amethysts made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. He just stood there stunned by the exchange as she enters her room.

 

Sniper: " I... uh, G'night...?"  he stuttered rubbing the cheek she kissed.

 

Sylvia: _"_ _Buonanotte bello (Good night, handsome )"_ she giggled like a school girl as she closes the door.

 

 _“She’s not so bad once you get passed the sadism and the puffy rich girl act.”_    He thought to himself as he walked down the hall.

…

Sylvia walks through her room and notices that it had been cleaned and her luggage had been neatly set to the side. She goes into the closet and puts on some panties and a pair of thigh high socks and noticed her boots had been wiped clean of the blood and singe marks and were even glossed over with expensive shoeshine. She left her closet and her nose wrinkled at the stench of french cologne lingering in the air. She walks over to a nightstand pulling out a handgun from the drawer. 

Sylvia: “I know you’re in here Frenchman, I can smell your cheap cologne.” she said casually.

Spy uncloaked sitting on the green love seat sipping a glass of white wine.

Spy: “A $1200 bottle of cologne hardly qualifies as cheap but you certainly have sharp senses.”

Sylvia: “Why are you in my room?” she says loading bullets into the gun.

Spy: “ Why to do a bit of housekeeping and to reclaim what you took from me” he says pulling out his Dead Ringer. “You seem to know your way around espionage technology by chance are you a spy as well?” he says finishing the wine.

Sylvia: “I was taught how to utilize your little trinkets just in case i would ever need to but i’m no spy. I prefer to give my enemies the curtesy of seeing the face that kills them.” She salsas she points the gun at him.

Spy: “Only a moment ago you were being sweet with the Bushman. Now your pointing a gun at me. You’re able to flip your demeanor quite quickly… ”

 

Sylvia: "As much as i appreciate you cleaning the mess i made in here, i gave all of you one simple rule to follow and you've already broken it. "

 

Spy: "Oh and what rule would that be?"

 

Sylvia: "I didn't invite you into my room... did I?" 

 

Spy: "Yet here I am." he smirks.

She shoots the gun three times. One bullet barely missed his head grazing his ear through his mask, the second shoots his glass shattering it and the third was shot hits the seat cushion near his crotch. Spy quickly jumps from the little couch surprised by the gunshots and close calls with her aim.

 

Spy: "Mademoiselle surely you're not serious about this one minor transgression?" he pleaded.

Sylvia: “Even you are not above my rules was i not clear enough on what happens? Now get out serpent, those were the only the warning shots you're going receive.”she hissed coldly.

Without another word Spy cloaks leaving her room and quickly gets down the hall before his cloak ran out. Sniper came running down the hall with his kukri in hand.

Sniper: “I heard gunshots is everything alright?”

Spy: “It’s nothing to worry about Sylvia and I just had a ‘disagreement’.”

Sniper: “What happened?”

Spy: “I wanted to talk to her in private so i waited in her room.”

Sniper: "Are you outta yer bloody mind? Didn’t Sylvia make it clear that she’ll shoot any of us when she doesn’t want us in her room?"

Spy: “There are things she’s not telling us so i thought i could ask her some questions.”

Sniper: “By sneaking in her room in the middle of the night? Ya got some nerve ya bloody spook!”

Spy: “Oh please, for all you know the girl could be playing you for a fool Bushman!”

Spy saw the hurt expression on Snipers face when he said that. Spy had only seen their sweetened exchange at the door before Sylvia entered her room. As for what went on between Sniper and Sylvia before that he doesn’t know. The look on Sniper’s face lets Spy to believe that she plucked at some of his strings. He walks away without another word leaving the Bushman alone in the middle of the hall to sulk.

Sylvia heard the argument all the way from her room. She even saw what happened through the series of mirrors she uses to peek into the hall. She knew getting involved will only make things worse. As much as she hates being accused of lying and treachery there’s not much she could do about it right now. She sweeps up the glass and bullets removing as much evidence of the confrontation as possible. Then she sifts through her luggage picking out some pictures of her family and thought how much she missed them as tears ran down her face. Sylvia crawls into bed still wearing Mundy's shirt, she wiped tears from her cheek with the sleeve taking a little bit of comfort that these men are here to look out for her even though they just meet _(And tried to kill each other among other things)_. She was trying to process everything but with how events have been moving and the new wave of thoughts swarming in her mind it only gave her a headache. Sylvia is trying to figure out what she should do but in the end she cried herself to sleep with no answers…

 

 ...

 

Sniper went to his van to be alone tossing his machete on the small table in the corner and kicked off his shoes. He plopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling thinking of what Spy said about Sylvia. He shook off his pants he saw the white ribbon his back pocket he grabs the long satin strand and held it in his hand. Sniper held onto it meaning to give it back to Sylvia when he got the chance but then completely forgot. He putzed around with it in his hand thinking of what she told him "Savor every moment, for every meeting we have could be our last " Sniper covered himself under the warm quilt his mom had made for him when he first left Australia to snipe heads out in the Badlands of New Mexico. On the built-in bedside shelf he looked at a picture of his parents and even though it was almost 3 years since they died he still missed them.

 

 _“How could i be so stupid? What if she is trying to play me for a bloody fool, I mean a girl like that has every reason to lie and keep secrets… but then why would she bother to tell me anything if that were the case?”_ He pondered in frustration

 

He turns to the alarm clock to look at the time.

 

“Damn 3 am, I should get some sleep.” he muttered irritably.

 

…

 

**Later that Morning**

  

Medic woke up around 9 am to check on Sylvia’s condition to find Heavy sleeping and her cot empty. Medic observed the cot and could tell by how cold it was that it had been abandoned for hours. He gives Heavy a light backhanded pat on the arm waking him. The larger man gives a snore and slight nodded jolt as he is awakened.  
  
Medic: “Heavy, do you know vhen Sylvia left ze Med Bay?” he said looking under the bed.  
  
Heavy gets up surprised by Sylvia’s disappearance grabbing her left behind bathrobe. When he and Medic couldn’t find her anywhere near the Med Bay they start searching rooms along the hallways feeling a sense of urgency to find her. Then Demoman and Scout show up further down the hall the two of them talking as they walked leisurely along the hallway.  
  
Scout: "So Miss Pauling said she might come over tomorrow afternoon to help us get a better idea about this job although i still don’t like that we have to babysit this spoiled Italian brat. I mean Sylvia is cute in all but she’s nothing like Miss Pauling. Maybe when Miss Pauling comes over i can ask her out on a date, a real date this time, ya know?"  
  
Demoman: "ya know to this day laddie ye can barely get a word out of dat bellow’n maw of yer’s whenev’r Miss Pauling’s aboot. What makes ye think ye can ask ‘er out if she be leaven yer tounge’n knots?"  
  
Scout: "Whatever, i got a better plan for a date this time."  
  
Demoman:  "I hope dat go’s well ‘or ya lad."  
  
Scout: "Hey thanks man. oh hey how’s it going Medic!"  
  
Medic: "Oh good! Scout, Demoman, have the two of you seen Sylvia?"  
  
Demoman: "What? Weren’t you and Heavy watch’n the wee lass?"  
  
Scout: "Yeah, and she was out for count how could you lose a sleeping girl?"  
  
Medic: "Well Sylvia is not in ze Med Bay and with her current state of health undetermined it’s unclear if she is coherent enough to safely approach."  
  
Just then Spy materializes from his cloak flicking a cigarette butt from his mouth and lights a fresh one.  
  
Spy: "If your looking for ze Mademoiselle she is in her quarters sleeping. However i would enter at your own peril." he said as everyone stares at the bandage over his ear.  
  
Medic heads to Sylvia’s bedroom with Spy, Demoman, Scout and Heavy. Medic gently knocks at the door but no answer so he opens the door enough to peek in. He looks around the room and sees a small shifting mass on the huge bed. Sylvia gives off light whimpers and snores as Medic opens the door more and carefully walks in he looks back at the others who just look at him with genuine concern.    
Spy is leaning against the wall smoking while Demo peeks in by the doorframe and Scout cowers behind Heavy, Medic is not impressed and his face shows it but turns to move in closer. As he walked closer to the sleeping girl, he stepped on a creaky floorboard making a noticeable noise, Sylvia grumbled, her arm jerked and her hand twitched, He froze in place his heart paced quickly but then relaxed as her arm fell limply over the side of the bed.  
Medic made it to Sylvia’s bedside and stood over the small sleeping lump half of her face was buried in her pillow. He put his hand on her forehead, it still felt warm but it seemed as though her fever was no longer life threatening. Medic concluded that her fever was likely caused by her body reacting harshly to too much physical stress and the significant amount of blood loss.  
A tear fell down her cheek which made Medic pause in curiosity. Upon closer inspection he noticed her pillow was damp, red puffy rings were around her eyes, he lifted her eyelid to see the eye was bloodshot and still glazed over with tears.  
  
“The poor little Frau cried herself to sleep, suppose this arrangement has been difficult on her. ” Medic thought to himself.  
  
Then Sylvia swatted his hand away and started talking in her sleep.  
  
“Auntie Judanna, leave me alone I want to sleep in today…” she said in a tired grumpy groan.  
  
Demoman and Scout start cracking laughs from the doorway.  Medic also thought this was funny and decides to go along with Sylvia’s lucid half-sleep rambling.  
  
“I’m sorry dearie, you were sick so I came to check up on you” Medic says trying not to laugh while poorly imitating a woman’s voice.  
  
“Grazie Zia… So how’s Jirvus? What manner of absurd ailment did he get this time?”  
  
“Oh Scheiße! she mentioned another person what do i say now?” he panicked internally.  
  
Spy chuckled with others knowing that Medic wasn’t good at improv. Trying to think fast Medic looks around the room and sees a vase with a floral pattern and he thought ‘Pollen’ then he looked around again and saw Heavy scratch the back of head and he thought ‘Dermatitis’ and then he tried to put them together and said.  
  
“He has… eh er, Pollen Pox! Ja! Pollen Pox a pus filled rash caused by harsh pollen exposure…” he chuckled and covers his mouth knowing Pollen Pox isn’t a real disease.  
  
“oh, poor Jirvus, must have got it while walking through the garden. Remind me not to give him flowers.”  
  
“Is there anything else you need before i go?”  
  
“Si… I need to know something… Auntie”  
  
“What is it dearie?”  
  
“When did you start speaking in a German accent?” she turned to face him her eyes just not opened enough to see him properly.  
  
Medic thought this was the perfect opportunity to wake her up and end the joke. He smiles trying really hard to hold back his laughter and gets close to her face.  
  
“Because, i’m not your Auntie! Silly Frauline!” he says laughing maniacally.  
  
Sylvia’s eyes snap open staring Medic in the face with an expression of shock on her face was priceless as she lets out hysterical screams. The others bust out in loud boisterous laughter as the girl screams in Medic’s face. She continues to scream as she grabs a Thomson machine gun out from under her pillow and elbows Medic over the head with butt of her gun. Medic falls to the floor and backs away as Sylvia jumps off her bed and stands over him.  
  
Sylvia: "Get out of my room..." She hissed through gritted teeth.  
  
Medic runs out of her room and into the hall. Her sights focus on the rest of them who kept laughing in the doorway but then their laughter turned to screams as Sylvia chased them through the hall yelling profanities in Italian. She lunges forward kicking Heavy in the back sending him off balance and face first to the floor. She climbs atop the fat man standing on his back like battle trophy and starts shooting at the others with her Tommy Gun until they all run out of her sight.  
  
Sylvia: " 'Ehe you'a better run imbecilli _(imbeciles)_ , theres not'a single corner in 'eh Rockside you can hide where i can't find you! And if you invade my room again i will shoot you into'a shredded formaggio! _(Cheese!)_ "  
  
She walks off of Heavy and stomps back to her room mumbling more profanities as she slams the door behind her. Heavy gets up off the floor and stands there silently amazed and dumbfounded by what just happened.  
...

 

**End of Chapter 3**

 

**Author's Note:**

> My interpretation from reading the comics is that The Administrator is most probably dead by the end of it, so some minor references of her might be mentioned but Helen will not have any active role in the story. And yes there will be references to events from the official comics. (Spoilers either way) As for Saxton Hale, Mr. Bidwell, Miss Pauling, Zhanna, Merasmus, and other official Random/Side Characters might have very minor roles depending on the context but will otherwise have next to no general focus.
> 
> Regarding Soldier: I have a REALLY hard time writing for him because of his really messed up personality (That and i'm not the best of thinking of insults he would say to unestablished characters). And yes in EoM Soldier and Zhanna are married so please do NOT ask me to romantically or sexually pair him with anyone else.
> 
> I want to write the characters of Team Fortress 2 with some of their already established lore with some of my own interpretations and flourishes but otherwise i want to stay somewhat consistent with some of the in-universe logic. However in-game things like respawn, multiples of the same person/class, weapon stats and in-game gags and gimmicks will not be fully considered. As for what 'Team' the characters are on they are considered as 'Merged' meaning one character might wear Blue clothes in one chapter and Red in another and are also not adversed to other colors like Green and Purple. However I will keep the colors limited to Red, Blue, Purple, and Green for the main cast to keep it simpler.
> 
> I'm not the best at being historically, geographically, or politically correct and i don't want to spend too much time researching historically accurate events and customs because even in the TF2-verse historical accuracy is already muddied up in that department. 
> 
> Lastly: I don't care if my writings offend people, i'm writing this story in my spare time for fun and sharing it with other fans of TF2.


End file.
